UNM Assistant Professor of Photography claims the PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant 1st Prize with the project Floating Ocean

Judge Gem Fletcher explained, “Abbaspour’s work charts a transitional moment in Iran’s socio-political landscape through the relationship between spaces and their inhabitants. Making poetry out of collisions— temporal and eternal, interior and exterior, familiar and peculiar, personal and political, seen and unseen, magic and mundane, imagined and experienced— she conjures a complex and moving contemporary portrait of a society in an era of profound social transformation. Leveraging a collection of narrative threads, Abbaspour’s potent body of work reminds us to continually renew our perspectives, not only as a way of imagining but as a means of survival.”

In speaking about the project, Professor Abbaspour stated, “This body of work focuses on the transitional states in contemporary Iran through portraits of younger people, urban spaces, and landscapes- I consider them self-portraits.

“My artistic practice, deeply rooted in the poetics of spaces in transitional states, integrates my background in urban studies with influences from Persian literature, particularly the poetry of Rumi. The recent revolutionary uprising in Iran for freedom and social justice is led by women, the younger generation, and epitomized by the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom.’ This grass-roots movement signifies a tremendous transitional moment in the country’s socio-political landscape. I acknowledge a profound transformation within myself since my last return home, and I encounter a society that has undergone significant evolution and continues to evolve. I have conducted visual research through photographic exploration and storytelling, focusing on the cultural roots of this uprising. Through employing a poetic approach, I make photographic portraits, natural landscapes, and urbanscapes to navigate my personal as well as the social transformations I encounter.

“In my works, I have been studying the poetics of spaces in transitional states. I see space and its inhabitants as relational entities suspended together. In these limbo states I have focused on vulnerability, intimacy, visibility, and history, with conscious regard for people’s highly politicized identities through the frame of everyday life. The relationship between spaces and their inhabitants in their constant state of becoming, and their histories, are the primary subjects I am intrigued to explore. Hence, I collaborate with these elements and often find my work in the meeting point of borders; between temporal and eternal, interior and exterior, familiar and peculiar, personal and political, seen and unseen, magic and mundane, imagined and experienced. To me, Photography offers an opportunity for reflection on what is assumed to be immutable and encourages a new understanding of historical layers and surfaces.

“Now, more than ever, the intricate interconnection between the political and the personal realms of life are becoming increasingly evident to me. At times, influenced by the ever-changing social, environmental, and political climates, the delineation between these realms becomes indistinct and blurry. My aim is to employ a poetical approach to navigate these invisible boundaries and delve into the essence of life as it evolves across natural and cultural spheres throughout various generations.”

LEARN MORE about Assistant Professor of Photography, Sara Abbaspour by visiting her faculty profile within the Department of Art at https://art.unm.edu/profile/sara-abbaspour

Professor Abbaspour will also be teaching ARTS 2410-001 Black & White Photography and the ARTS 386-001 The Exhibition Print this upcoming Spring 2025 semester.

https://phmuseum.com/grants/2024-women-photographers-grant
https://phmuseum.com/submissions/floating-ocean